Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Osama Hamdan, the Hamas representative in Lebanon, told Iranian television that suicide bombing attacks against Israel were justified, especially attacks in buses. He rejected the historical Jewish connection to the Land of Israel and stated that Hamas' avowed intention was to wipe Israel off the face of the map.

The CIA Report on 9/11 Is Complete, and you might get to read it, (released Tuesday) but it will have no effect whatever. It reveals gross incompetence on the part of US intelligence officials, but none of them will suffer any consequences, nor will there be any reform of US intelligence operations:

Officials said Goss could establish additional procedures to deal with any systemic problems uncovered in the report. Or he could send the IG report to the Hill, noting the many changes that have already been made, and indicate that many of the senior officials at the time of the attacks have left the agency.

Some present and former agency officials have been upset that four years after the attacks, the CIA is still being criticized despite having been the loudest voice in government to warn Presidents Bill Clinton and Bush of the terrorist threat.

"What about Congress and the White House not paying attention, or even the Federal Aviation Administration?" one former agency official asked yesterday.

Yeah, what about the other guy? Actually, Director Tenet told congress there was no threat from Al-Qaeda. It is not clear why he lied, but he did. So did FBI head Freeh. Isn't it incredible that 6 years after the event, the CIA has still not studied the problems thoroughly or instituted any reforms? "Officials said Goss could establish additional procedures to deal with any systemic problems uncovered in the report." Shouldn't that have been done in 2002? If something like 9-11 happens, it may be due to negligence. But if no steps are taken to prevent a recurrence, isn't it certainly criminal negligence?

The headline: Iran hangs 30 over 'US plots'. Regime change in Iran is only the cause of "neocons," right? I mean every good liberal has to be in favor of something like this, right?

The most high-profile recent executions involved Majid Kavousifar, 28, and his nephew, Hossein Kavousifar, 24, hanged for the murder of a hardline judge, Hassan Moghaddas, a man notorious for jailing political dissidents. They were hanged from cranes and hoisted high above one of Tehran's busiest thoroughfares.

Beats billboard ads and those old Burma Shave signs, doesn't it? And here's one for the queers for Palestine to support:

International gay rights campaigners have also said that homosexual men were among the executed. Homosexuality is a capital offence in Iran, along with adultery, espionage, armed robbery, drug trafficking and apostasy.

A great regime. Let's engage with them. We can work out a number of good deals. For example, they get to keep Lebanon and Israel, and in return, they lay off the homosexuals. Or alternatively, they leave Lebanon and Israel alone, and they can execute whomever they want at home.

The UN Security Council is scheduled to convene before the end of this month to debate the renewal of the UNIFIL forces mandate in South Lebanon. This European-led mission that comprises 13,600 troops was deployed in southern Lebanon in the aftermath of last year's war between Hezbollah and Israel in a bid to assist the Lebanese authorities in the implementing of UN resolution 1701. The Council is expected to renew the force's mandate unanimously for an additional year as of September 01/ 07.

The UN General Secretary in his report to the Council recommended the renewal of the UNIFIL'S mission for an additional year without any changes in its numbers, assignments or jurisdiction. He called on the 22 countries participating in this force to attend a closed session designated to discuss its role and means needed to strengthen its effectiveness and capabilities in order help in implementing the UN resolution 1701, function better, preserves its integrity, and ensure the safety of its members.

France, in coordination with Britain and the United States, has submitted to the UN Security Council a draft resolution demanding complete implementation of all the UN resolution 1701 clauses, notably the control and ban of weapons and men smuggling from Syria into Lebanon, the demarcation of the border with Syria, including the Shebaa Farms area, the continuing efforts to restore Lebanon's legitimate authorities over all the Lebanese soil, and to put an end to all violations of the Line Blue between Lebanon and Israel, etc.

The Lebanese government sent a letter to the UN Security Council calling for renewal of the UNIFIL'S mission, but did not address the urgency of controlling the Syrian-Lebanese border, nor did it suggest expanding the jurisdiction of the international forces to cover the entire Syrian-Lebanese border. Lebanon's PM, Mr. Saniora, justified his questionable stance by a wish not to agitate Syria or shake Hezbollah's feathers.

Strange, unacceptable and appeasing are the least descriptions that could be said of Mr. Saniora's stance in not calling on the UN Council to modify the UNIFI'L'S mandate so as to cover the entire Syrian-Lebanese border. One wonders why Mr. Saniora had to appease Syria, Iran and their military proxy in Lebanon Hezbollah, despite all the atrocities they are purposefully and viciously committing against Lebanon and its people.

It is worth reminding the Lebanese government of Prime Minister Saniora that it is fully and exclusively responsible for the safety and security of all the Lebanese citizens and for enforcing Lebanese laws and all international resolutions pertaining to Lebanon over all Lebanese territory. As such, the government is obligated, domestically and internationally, to prevent the spread of weapons belonging to Hezbollah or any other parties or individuals. This national obligation requires immediate and complete military control for the Syrian-Lebanese borders. Meanwhile the Security Council will not make any amendments to the task of the UNIFIL unless the Lebanese government asks officially for such amendments.

The Lebanese people both in Lebanon and Diaspora expect Mr. Saniora's government to be capable of facing its governing patriotic and national responsibilities with courage, commitment, and devotion without any kind of fear, hesitation, appeasement or compromises in the defense of the country's sovereignty, freedoms and independence. Mr. Saniora is urged to call on the UN Council before it convenes and request officially all the necessary amendments needed to deploy the UNIFIL troops on the Syrian-Lebanese borders under UN Chapter seven.

Meanwhile, France has submitted to the UN Council a draft resolution calling for the renewal of the UNIFIL mission in helping the Lebanese authorities in implementing the UN Resolution 1701 and has mentioned the importance of controlling the Lebanese-Syrian border to ensure an end for smuggling terrorists and weapons from Syria to Lebanon.

It is worth mentioning that Mr. Saniora did not agree with the UN Council in issuing the resolution 1701 under UN Chapter seven. This resolution was issued by the UN Council in the aftermath of the Israeli-Hezbollah devastating 33 day conflict. Mr. Saniora justified his stance by the need to maintain a good relationship with Hezbollah and its two sponsors, Syria and Iran. What happened is that after few month Hezbollah withdrew its support to the resolution and declared that it did not agree on its seven clauses from day one, and even tagged Saniora and his government as traitors and collaborators

We believe strongly that Mr. Saniora is required to send the needed request immediately to the UN Council.

We would remind Mr. Saniora and his government that unless the Lebanese-Syrian borders are fully secured and controlled by international forces under Chapter VII, the Syrian army and its intelligence network, as well as its Lebanese and Palestinian armed agents in all of Lebanon will continue to brutally assassinate and intimidate Lebanon's leaders, politicians and intellectuals, while at the same time hindering by force all efforts aiming to rebuild the country and strengthen its legitimate armed forces and institutional establishments.

Lebanon needs at this time a brave PM and government that will stand for truth and act without fear no matter what are the challenge or consequences. The question is, can Mr. Saniora and his government members fulfill this role...hopefully they will.

Logic and past experience show, without any shred of doubt, that dealing with terrorist groups like Hezbollah, and rogue regimes like the Syrian and Iranian ones with anything but forceful means, is simply a waste of time and lives. It would provide them as far as Lebanon is concerned with further opportunities to kill and terrorize the Lebanese, attack the international community, and spread terrorism and anarchy, in ideology and practice, to all nations of the world, especially the Free World.

It remains that the free world will not help those who do not help themselves, and shoulder bravely their own responsibility.

US keeps making these claims: Iran Trains Militiamen Inside Iraq, U.S. Says. I tend to believe it is true, but it is mighty suspicious that the US has not managed to produce even one "militiaman" (= terrorist) to support this very serious claim. Is this another claim like Saddam's WMD? Iranian covert ops are admittedly devious, but it should be possible to produce substantive evidence to substantiate the claim.